Strong finish sees Rory McIlroy join Patrick Reed at the top of Dubai Desert Classic leaderboard

Rory McIlroy enjoyed a superb finish to his rain-delayed opening round at the Dubai Desert Classic, where he now shares the lead with Patrick Reed.

McIlroy shot birdie-eagle-birdie, picking up four shots in the final three holes to sign off in a share of the lead on six-under-par.

Reed had an eagle on the final hole to ensure that he will start round two level with McIlroy.

The pre-tournament build-up had been dominated by the war of words between the pair, which emerged after Reed threw a tee towards McIlroy after being snubbed by the world number one on the practice range.

McIlroy said he had not seen the tee but had not been impressed at being subpoenaed on Christmas Eve by the lawyer who is representing Reed in a defamation lawsuit against several media members and organisations.

McIlroy's subpoena is related to a separate civil lawsuit filed in June by Larry Klayman, which claims that Florida residents who bought tickets to PGA Tour events, or would in future, were damaged by the PGA Tour allegedly weakening fields by suspending players who joined LIV.

Reed, who joined LIV during its inaugural event in June, told reporters the subpoena - which Klayman has also attempted to serve on Tiger Woods - has "nothing to do with me and nothing to do with any of the lawsuits that I'm a part of" and labelled McIlroy "an immature little child".

Sharing second spot, one behind the co-leaders, are France's Victor Perez, Belgium's Thomas Pieters, and Adria Arnaus from Spain.

LEADERBOARD

Shane Lowry is still playing his opening round and is level par approaching the turn. Tom McKibbin carded a 74 to stand at two over, while Padraig Harrington had a disappointing round of 81.